Why isnt James Harden more popular with fans? The Jump

I see a lot of people claim this, but if it's true, why was Luka allowed to do it? I've seen Luka Euroleague highlights where he does the Harden stepback over and over, and he never got called for a travel.

 

There was no other "foil" for discussion that year for Harden so they made up one.

This year you won't have that Best Player thing because we have 3 candidates/foils for discussion: Harden, Giannis, George.

ESPN has to have debates to drive discussion. Otherwise, if it is 1 person there is nothing to talk about.

 

all we need is a ring, that will shut off those haters..

 

Dude what the hell are some of you talking about?
Harden is extremely popular people know who he is and he won the MVP.
Stop making a false narrative to prop up Harden.
It's 2019, people can watch the NBA a billion different ways.
It's not like the 90s where you have NBC and 2 other options.

Popularity now means is that if people find you favorable

not wondering who you are


Back in the 90s, there were people who don't even know who Hakeem Olajuwon was cause he was never on TV except for a few games a year

The Rockets are on 24/7

Nobody wanted to watch the Kevin Martin Rockets

 

I use to think that but when KD won his rings, I really didn't respect him for jumping on the Dubs bandwagon. Even though, there was no doubt, he was the best player in the Finals.

If James ever wins a ring, those same haters (like me on KD) will be thinking he flopped his way to a ring.

 

I am not hating, you confuse pragmatism with hate. I can love him as a player and still be critical.

DD

 

There's no discussion because there is no discussion.

Lebron has had more a decade of excellence and taken multiple teams to the Finals in fact he has had like 9 times or w/e for comparison GSW's only been there 5 times and they are already on the verge of breaking up.

Saying its not impressive is a big joke, are you a Lebron hater or what? If it was so easy to do how come nobody else has done it since Bill Russell era?

I love James Harden and think he is definitely better this year than old man Lebron but Harden has so much more to do to beat Lebron's legacy.

If you wanna play exchange teams, then Miami Heat Lebron would've had a dynasty with KD and WB in OKC and Serge Ibaka.

 

Harden isn’t anymore of a stat padder than any other great player. They all do it to some extent within the context of trying to win a game. Most of the time we need all of James’ numbers and when we don’t but have the win in hand anyway, let him have it.

Nobody is as egregious as Westbrook though. They’ve systematically created an environment for him to get his 10 rebounds.

 

To be fair, you put Houston Rockets version of James Harden with those 3 guys and that’s a dynasty as well. That’s the problem with weighing championships too heavily in the legacy of players. There’s a lot of factors that come together to get a ring. If Lebron never leaves the Cavs does he win a ring? Tough call.

But anyways Lebron is probably the greatest player of all time or certainly in the top 2 or 3. Harden simply isn’t.

 

Lol at asking McGrady about the playoffs, gtfo. Harden has done more in less time than McGrady ever did.

 

that hate us cause they anus!

 

Basketball is a niche sport in Europe. Europeans like the players from Europe and a few other star players, but most of them couldn't tell you who James Harden was if you showed them a picture of him. Soccer is king there and always will be.

 

Saw Tracy McGrady at 00:34, stopped.

 

The hate for Harden is 90% media driven. You guys don't like to think the media influences perception, but it absolutely does. If the Media played up this unarguable tour as much as they did Russ' triple double streak or Curry's 3 point streak when they had 2 dedicated channels to just watching Curry warm up, the masses would love Harden.

It isn't because Harden has a rope-a-dope, lazy player style of play, It's because media doesn't report on what he is doing and the significance without sniping at his defense or some other bullsh*t. If the media forced Harden down our throats, it would force people to acknowledge Harden's greatness.

Most fans aren't checking for Harden or any other player outside their teams unless they are alerted to what Harden is doing. If all the reports are digs, jabs and disrespect before they get to the historical significance, of course casuals aren't going to care.

Most people aren't digging for truth, they will just regurgitate what the media is feeding them and keep it moving.

 

Couple of reason
He isn’t playing in a big media friendly market.
If he was in LA Or New York he would get all the media attention.
He plays in Houston, idk why but even the refs usually are bias towards us. I remember refs not calling fouls in favor of Yao whenever he got hacked. Or when we played against the Lakers.
Another reason is the media narrative influences other fans. They buy into whatever they want to feed them like Harden gets empty stars, doesn’t share the ball, low percentage point or not efficient enough.
Yet Bryant or other players like Russell Westbrook got away with being even more of a ball hog or having a terrible fg% or getting help from their team mates and team to get their stats up.

Media still labels Harden as a bad or terrible defender. Most of these so-called analysts don’t even watch the games. They just see the highlights (hilites) and check the box score and go with their narrative.

 

Cmon bro. To an extent. They had closed the game to within 9. Teams can come back from that. The rockets don’t need to lose any more games if possible. The 2nd/3rd seed is of extreme importantance.

 

Seriously?? He gave up a number of opportunities to reach 30. It looked to me like his teammates were pushing for it more than him. Yes, his last 3 got him over the 30. I'm thrilled.

But did he put his stats before the game? No way.

 

Wrong site. Most of us enjoy Harden too.

 

Because YOU (media) f***s trash him every chance you get!!

He was my favorite player in the NBA before he even joined the Rockets... in the tiny OKC market... as a diehard Rockets fan.

True artists are usually widely misunderstood. Harden is Picasso and the media pretty much only loves Warhol trash.

 

Social media: Where dumb statements are made.